


Hymn of Silence

by MisanthropicDragon



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: Warpup, disgustingly cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 09:56:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4560228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MisanthropicDragon/pseuds/MisanthropicDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Doof takes on a pup as his own, this is excerpts of their life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hymn of Silence

**Author's Note:**

> Commission for Cameron!  
> It took me awhile to finish but I'm finally done! Hopefully this is okay since I've never touched a guitar in my life.

Doof had a penchant for visiting the warpups, thought they were the most precious things. They were the only things not yet battle-hardened and ruined in the wasteland that was their world. So, he visited the pups near daily. It made his day brighter, made him sing a little louder. Sometimes he’d play music for the pups, would sing lullabies he can faintly remember in the recess of his mind. He can still hear his mother’s voice, however faint, singing lullabies to him to help him sleep. 

The pups loved the lullabies. It would quiet them down, stop their crying. Doof was glad he could comfort them as much as possible, as much as he could until they became just what they were meant to- battle fodder. But those thoughts saddened him, he chose not to think about that much.

Instead, he continued his journey to the nursery, an acoustic guitar in hand. He had his hands against the wall, feeling around until he found the door to the nursery. The pups all turned to look at him, cheering happily when they saw him. A few run and crawl to him, clinging to his legs and trying to climb up on him. Doof laughed quietly and gathered two of them up in his arms, trying to make his way to sit down. It proved difficult with the pups stuck to his legs. 

Noticing his struggle, a warboy grabbed Doof’s elbow and led him to sit down. Doof muttered a quick thanks and settled down, two pups in his lap and the rest at his feet, looking up at him with wide eyes. Doof thanked the warboy with a nod and a slight smile. He brought his guitar up strummed it gently at first, making sure it’s tuned. The strings vibrate the guitar, the feeling is pleasant and familiar to Doof.

Once it’s tuned, he starts to play a riff, one he can barely remember but fills in the gaps with his own notes anyways. It’s melodic, pretty. He sang gently under his breath, quiet enough to not wake the sleeping pups. Not that the pups could sleep with Doof around, they got too excited. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Doof played for longer than intended, keeping the pups up past their bedtime. When he got up to leave, after patting a few pups on the head and a few goofy grins, he noticed a weight on his leg. He tried to move but the weight didn’t allow him to. How curious… A pup attached to him? Bending down, he grabbed the pup and pried him off.

“What’s your name?” Doof said, a lopsided grin on his face. After a few moments of silence, Doof frowned. “You don’t got a name?” 

Doof felt the pup nod and snuggle closer to his chest. He could’ve sworn his heart was melting. But he had to go, the pups had to sleep. He tried to put the pup down but he was diligent, clinging to his red onesie. “C’mon… Bedtime for you, for me as well.” Doof continued to try to pry the pup off of him, before he finally gave up.

“Fine, you can come with me. But just this once!” The pup made a squeaky noise of content and leaned back onto Doof’s chest. Doof cradled the pup with one hand and grabbed his guitar with the other, heading off to his own room after a round of goodbyes from the other pups. A warboy grabbed him by the elbow to help lead him, realizing that it’d be too hard for Doof to go by himself with his hands full.

The walk was slow as to not bounce the pup too much. Doof didn’t want to startle him awake, wanted to put him to sleep as soon as he could. It took a long time to walk back to the room with how slow he moved, but he didn’t mind. Once he was in the room, he thanked the warboy for the help and shut the door. 

He climbed up to the hammock he slept in and felt around for a spare bit of cloth, wanting to give the pup some sort of blanket. Finally, he grabbed a bit of fabric big enough to act as a blanket for the pup. Doof wrapped the ‘blanket’ around the boy and pat his head.

“You want a song?” Doof asked quietly, wanting to get the pup to sleep. 

The pup whispered ‘yes’ in response and curled up, facing Doof. Doof hummed a song gently, laying down next to him. He hummed random tunes for awhile, until he heard the soft, even breathing of the sleeping pup. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Doof woke up, he felt eyes on him. The pups was definitely awake. He sat up and stretched his arms up and back, delighting in the cracking noises. After a moment of no sound or movement, he hears a loud yawn. 

“Let’s get you back to the nursery.” Doof said, pulling the pup into one arm and using the other to get down. The pup grabbed onto him and clung as hard as he could. “C’mon, ya can’t stay here!” Doof stressed, trying to pry the boy off of him. In turn, the pup teared up and sniffled. 

“No no! No crying. Don’t gotta cry, don’t gotta leave.” Doof bounced him like he knew the mothers would do sometimes to calm the pups down. “Fine, if you’re staying here, you need a name…” Doof thought for a good long while he continued to bounce the pup. “Oh! Hymn. That’s your name now. Hymn.” Doof smiled down at the boy, messed up teeth flashing. 

The pup, Hymn, stopped his crying and looked up at Doof. “Hymn…” The boy repeated slowly, testing out the new name. Hymn giggled at the bouncing and hugged Doof. 

“Let’s go, time to get you a meal ration.” Doof said as he left the room, pup still in his arms.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Hymn is approximately 2000 days old, he lost his first tooth. It hurt, but he didn’t tell Doof, wanted to handle it all on his own. But one day, he messed with it enough for it to make a suction-y pop and come out in his hand. Hymn’s eyes widened and he crawled up to the hammock, then placed himself on Doof’s chest. “Doof Doof Doof!” He shouted, bouncing to wake him up. 

“Hmm..? Wha?” Doof wiped the drool from his mouth and propped himself up on his elbows. “What’s up?” 

“My tooth came out!” Hymn exclaimed, voice full of pride and excitement. 

“Tooth, huh? Whatchya gonna do with it?” Doof asked, yawning in the middle of his sentence. 

Hymn had not thought of that. What was he supposed to do with a tooth? He thought for a moment before he smiled again and got excited once more. “You can have it!” Hymn squeaked with a big smile. 

Doof grinned. “I can?” He asked, holding a hand out to receive the tooth.

“Yes!” Hymn nodded quickly and dropped the tooth into Doof’s hand. “There ya go!” 

Doof squeezed his hand around the tooth lightly. He slid up and off the hammock, down to the ground. Feeling around, he finally made his way to a decorative wooden box. The box was full of different things he deemed important over the years. A small music box, gifts from pups, his first broken guitar string, and a smooth rock were just a few things to name. He dropped the tooth in and closed the lid. Once he set the box down, he turned around and smiled again. “Wanna go play with the others?” Doof asked, holding a hand out for Hymn to grab.

“Okay!” Hymn hopped down and grabbed Doof’s hand. 

Doof laughed hoarsely and picked up his guitar. “Let’s go.” 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Around 2600 days old, Hymn asked a Doof a big question. Doof had been playing guitar for the pups again, and it had gotten Hymn thinking. He thought the whole time they were in the nursery, thought about learning an instrument. Would Doof teach him?

When the two of them got back to the room, Hymn breathed in loudly. He could do it, he could ask. “...Doof?” He asked timidly.

“Yes?” Doof set his guitar down in it’s place and turned in the direction of Hymn’s voice.

Hymn kicked the stone floor lightly, kicking up dust. “Would you… Teach me to play the guitar?” 

Doof thought for a moment before a big grin spread across his face. “Of course!” He always got enthusiastic about instruments. When people asked about them, he could talk forever about them. Hymn smiled big, big gap where a tooth was missing visible. Doof sat down crosslegged, guitar propped on a knee. Hymn sat down in front of him and looked at him expectantly. Once doof heard the boy sit, he handed him the guitar. “Strum it, let’s hear.” 

Hymn strummed it, like he’d seen Doof do over a hundred times in his life. The guitar vibrated as he strummed gently. “Like this?” He asked.

“Just like that.” Doof nodded. He taps on the top of the guitar. “This is the head of the guitar, you use the knobs to tune it.” Hymn moves to adjusted them and Doof quickly covers them with his bony hand. “Uh-uh, already tuned.”

Hymn nods and Doof moves his hand to the neck. “This is the neck.” He points at the different lines along the neck. “These are frets. You press the strings down on the fretboard.” Using one long finger, he traces down the neck. “These dots are position markers, they’re to show you where you are on the fretboard.” 

Maybe this is too much information at once; But if it is, Hymn isn’t saying so. “You strum at the bottom of the strings like you did before, but changing notes with the frets.” 

“Okay!” is all Hymn says. 

Perhaps this would go smoothly after all.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One morning, Doof is doing his own paint. He can’t reach the back, and Hymn notices from across the room. Hymn quickly gets up and runs to the other side of the room. “Doof!”

Doof tilts his head up at the voice. “Yes?”

“You can’t get the back of your head and neck!” He has a good point, Doof figures.

“Wanna do it?” Doof offers. 

“Yep!” Hymn grins, a big gap where his latest loose tooth had fallen out visible. He trots over to the bowl of white clay and grabs it, then settles behind Doof. Dipping his hand into the paint, he begins to smear it on the top and back of Doof’s head in a thick layer. He’s concentrating hard, making a soft noise that he does when he’s deep in thought. Doof smiles at the noises and hums a song gently. The clay is cold, making Doof shiver.

“Want me to do your paint?” Doof offers, he’s sure the boy will say no, that he can do it-  
“Yes, please!” Hymn chirps. That’s a surprise to Doof, but he won’t complain. As soon as Hymn finishes up the paint, he plops himself down in front of Doof. He places the bowl of clay next to Doof, which Doof feels for immediately. Once he touches the bowl, he reaches out and touches Hymn’s shoulder. Doof scoops up the clay in his hand and wipes it on the top of Hymn’s head, then spreads it down his neck and shoulders. 

“You can get your face, right?” Doof truthfully just doesn’t want to accidentally poke the pup’s eyes.

Hymn shakes himself awake, the painting soothing him to sleep. “Mhm!” 

“Good.” He mumbles under his breath, concentrating on painting. While he spreads the paint around, he hopes he’s doing a good job. Painting was always so calming, so bonding. After a few more minutes, Doof was sure he was finished. “There ya go.” Doof says, clapping Hymn’s shoulder gently.

Hymn paints his face and neck quickly, making sure to cover every inch of skin. “What’re we doing today?” 

Doof thinks for a moment, tapping his chin with one long boney finger. “We could play for the nursery if ya want.” 

“Sure!” The pup chirps, jumping to his feet. Doof gets up along with him, putting his mask on now that the paint is dry. He grabs his guitar from the floor and Hymn’s hand, leading him out the door.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hymn is about 3700 days old when he first asks to go on a raid, ride on the Doofwagon. He pleads Doof, promises he’s old enough. But that’s not what worries Doof. He’s worried that the loud amps will deafen Hymn even more. There has to be something he can do to mute the sound at least a little, make it safer for Hymn to go out.

The only thing he can think of to do is to ask a warboy to make a helmet, something to block out the noise to keep the kid safe. So he does ask, asks real nice, doesn’t have to bargain because he’s THE Coma Doof Warrior. Jager, the warboy, is happy to comply. So he works diligently to get it done, works fast and efficient. 

When Doof gets the helmet, he’s excited but he’s also scared. He wants Hymn to be able to experience a raid, but he’s afraid of Hymn growing up. After taking the helmet and thanking Jager, he makes his way slowly through the halls. He isn’t rushing, wants to wait as long as possible before having to give it to him. When he finally reaches the door to his room, he pauses before opening the door.

“Hymn! Got something for you!” Doof shouts into the room. He can hear Hymn climbing down and then running over the warm stone ground. 

“What is it?” Hymn asks quizzically. He looks at the thing in Doof’s hands.

“It’s a helmet. To muffle noises when you go on raids with me.” Doof says simply, as if it’s the most casual thing in the world. Hymn doesn’t react for a moment, then realizes what was said. 

“OH! Raids!?” Hymn is bouncing on his heels excitedly, something he’d normally never do. He’s too excited, can’t stay still. His dreams were coming true! A raid! 

“Yep. Raids.” Doof smiles and places the helmet on Hymn’s head. Hymn looks so happy and in turn, Doof is happy. In that moment, he’s happy and not scared.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12 days later, there’s a raid. 

Doof is alerted by the commotion of warboys running and shouting down the halls. He quickly gets up and shakes Hymn awake, telling him “Today’s the day!”. After getting down from the hammock, he rushed to grab Hymn’s helmet and a blanket for Hymn to sit on. Once Hymn is as awake as he can be, Doof puts the helmet on his head and grabs his hand. 

Winding through the halls and down to the Doof Wagon takes awhile, but they make it in good time. Doof gets up and straps himself in, instructing some warboys to secure Hymn. He can’t stress safety enough, not wanting anything to happen to the pup. All he wants is Hymn to grow up and one day take his place. 

Hymn is excited, he can’t stop smiling and chattering quickly with the passing warboys. When Doof hears him speak, he’s surprised. Hymn was a shy thing, never talked more than he needed to to anyone else. Doof was glad, though. The pup needed a little more socialization. 

When the cars start and go out onto the road, Doof starts to play. The excitement in the air is contagious now and he can’t stop grinning lopsidedly. Speed picking up, Doof plays faster. Hymn is moving slightly to the music, the adrenaline making him need some form of outlet for his energy. 

Doof thinks he can get used to this.


End file.
